Can Brush tool option to put the “active” color on the cursor icon?

Forum|Forum|5 months ago
September 4, 2025
1 reply
110 views

As a UXP plugin developer, I’m currently working on a hardware device and its corresponding plugin for Photoshop to enhance the user experience. I suggest that the brush tool option can place the "active" color on the cursor icon.This functionality would allow the brush cursor to visually display the current brush color while painting. By integrating a color preview directly into the cursor, users could focus solely on the canvas without needing to frequently glance at the color swatch to confirm the selected color. This addition would greatly streamline the painting workflow and improve overall usability.Looking forward to your feedback or any plans to implement this feature!

creative explorer

Community Expert

@haruhi_3996 If I select the brush tool and brush soemthing on my artboard, and if I decide to hold down the Option/Alt key, my brush tool becomes an eye dropper and I actual would get the before and after colours. But, if I read correctly, you want to preview the color before or while you paint, which would be significant usability gain. Correct?

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haruhi_3996Author

Participant

Yes, I want to preview the color before or while I am painting.

Anshul_Saini

Community Manager

Hi @haruhi_3996,

That’s an excellent and thoughtful feature request. Integrating a live, active color preview within the cursor could indeed improve color assurance and flow for digital artists, especially those working with custom hardware or color-sensitive workflows.

The existing behavior is limited to the temporary color preview via Alt/Option (Eyedropper), which shows a before/after color comparison but not a live overlay while painting.

I’d suggest posting this enhancement idea in the official Photoshop Idea Section: https://adobe.ly/4qyM948.
Submitting it there ensures visibility to the Photoshop product and engineering teams, who actively review feature requests from developers and creators.

Here is the guide how to write feature request: https://adobe.ly/43pmFMX

Once you have created a new idea post and you think others might benefit from this too, feel free to encourage them to upvote or add their thoughts in the comments. The more context and support a request has, the better!

Best,

Anshul Saini

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